Singapore Maths Althorp Partnership of Primary Schools Parent Information Evening September 2015

Setting the Scene Singapore Education Singapore hasn’t always had great Maths performance. It was ranked 16th out of the 26 countries participating in the 1983 SIS study. The government recognised this was not good enough for an economy entirely dependent on its human resources, so they started examining leading teaching concepts in the early 1980s.

Setting the Scene With an economy completely reliant upon the ability of its human resources, Singapore overhauled its Maths teaching system, drawing from best practice elsewhere in the world. The UK’s Cockroft report and a similar study in the US had a fundamental influence. Both studies concluded that: Problem solving is at the heart of Mathematics and should be the focus of what is taught in schools Basic skills in Mathematics should be defined to encompass more than computational facility 1 2

TIMSS Benchmark 2011 Grade 4 is the same age as UK Year 5 Since 1995 Singapore has been at the top of mathematics education

TIMSS Benchmark 2011 Grade 8 is the same age as UK Year 9 Singapore bucks the trend and maintains its high results in Secondary school.

Working with pupils core competencies Problem solving is at the heart of mathematics The focus is not on rote procedures, rote memorisation or tedious calculation but on relational understanding. Pupils are encouraged to solve problems working with their core competencies, in particular: 1 Visualisation Generalisation Make decisions 2 3

Working with 10 frames Find the value of 8+7+9

4 + 10 + 10

10 + 4 + 10

10 + 10 + 4

8 + 8 + 8

10 +10 + 10 = 30 30 - 2 - 3 -1 = 24

Use of number bonds and the number bond diagram 3 5 2

Part Whole Part

Number bonds A lot of emphasis is put on number bonds and in particular a recognition that numbers can be split up and put together in different ways. This formulates a basis for number sense which is applied as a platform for decision making. The number bond diagram is consistently used as a visual way of showing how numbers can be split into their component parts, often as a means of describing what the children are thinking.

How lessons are taught Concepts merge into each other. Lessons are typically broken into 3 parts and can last one or more days. Children master topics before moving on.

3 parts to a lesson Anchor task – the entire class spends a long time on one question guided by the teacher. Guided practice – practice new ideas in groups guided by the teacher Independent practice

Anchor task How many cakes are there on each plate? Is there another way to put the cakes on each plate?

2 5 3

Guided practice

Mastering concepts Concepts will be fully developed before moving on. Children will have had plenty of practice to embed ideas. Lots of time to help those who are being challenged as well as allowing advanced learners time to deepen their understanding.

CPA approach Concrete: based on hands-on sensory experiences of physical objects together with the consequences that go after. Pictorial: Knowledge can be represented using models and pictures. Learners know how to make mental images of their world. Abstract: Learners can think in abstract. Abstract terms and symbol systems can be used to represent knowledge like numbers, mathematical symbols, letters and language.

Next time… Bar model